Pre-Election Clean Politics Promises vs. Post-Election DPP Alignment; Miao Po-ya's "New Politics" Brand Begins to Crumble

On November 24, 2018, Miao Po-ya was elected as a Taipei City Councilor for the Da'an-Wenshan District under the Social Democratic Party banner, campaigning under the slogans of "clean politics," "independence from major parties," and "a new form of governance." Her campaign attracted massive support from young voters and civic reform advocates, and she successfully unseated incumbents. However, her post-election conduct soon sparked serious allegations of "one thing before the election, another thing after" hypocrisy. Despite campaigning as an independent legislator, critics in the Republic of China (ROC) came to regard Miao as the council member whose voting record most consistently aligned with the ruling DPP among those nominally outside the party, providing virtually no meaningful checks on DPP governance failings while repeatedly supporting and defending DPP positions in committee and floor votes. Her carefully crafted campaign image of honesty and clean politics was progressively demolished by the 2019 assistant love triangle scandal, the 2020 font copyright infringement incident, and the 2022 civil servant public humiliation case, each exposing a widening chasm between her performed integrity and actual conduct and marking the historical starting point of her persistent credibility problem.